As many of you know I’ve been writing this blog for almost ten years. In that time I’ve met some of the most wonderful people in our industry – and of course some real scumbags.

What you may not know is that, many of those scumbags I warn you about. Both the individuals and companies who in my opinion are taking advantage of you – well, many of those folks are not big fans of this blog.

So, that brings me to the point that sucks.

Over the past year I’ve written two blog post about a group in Chicago called Inventorz Network. (http://www.inventorznetwork.com/us/) Not scathing blogs mind you, but the other side of the story if you will.

Inventorz Network provides “connection” services to inventors, for a fee of course. One of many in our industry, that in my opinion, are more focused on taking your money than on providing you any real help. This is not my first rodeo. I’ve been watching companies in this industry for many years, and I can spot the ones that truly want to help a mile away – in my opinion this group is not one of them.

But that’s my opinion, and until they quit exploiting inventors, or the attorneys for Inventorz Network take away my right to have my opinion, that will remain my opinion about Inventorz Network.

This of course leaves me three choices. 1. I can remove the post as they have demanded and allow these two ladies to censor us at the end of their sharp sword. 2. I can allow them to file suit against me and withstand the financial pain defending my opinion would require. or 3. I can shut down the blog and make it all go away.

You see, the problem is this. Allowing these two idiots to censor our industry costs us all the right to stand up for ourselves. Letting them file a costly lawsuit costs me financially, and of course, shutting down the blog costs the thousands of inventors who get value from the free educational content.

So what’s a guy to do? Well, I can’t open the floodgate of allowing these scumbag companies to censor us, but unless someone wants to fund the legal battle required to stand up to these two, I have no choice but to shut down the Inventor Education Blog.

So in accordance with their demands, I will shut down the Inventor Education Blog and the Facebook group by 16 September.

It’s ironic really. Out of all the people and companies who I’ve called out over the years, these two are the ONLY ones who have ever attempted legal action over an opinion of their services. In the end Melinda Knight and Dhana Cohen will cost us all far more than money. These two women who claim to care about our industry, just cost us the one place we could stand up for ourselves.

Take pride Melinda Knight and Dhana Cohen. Your Inventorz Network is getting what you demand, and one day maybe karma will too – way to support the inventor community!

I can safely say that Target is not scamming inventors. But that doesn’t mean organizations in our industry with hidden agendas don’t use retailers like Target to give themselves an air of legitimacy as they pick your pocket.

Take for example this email I received yesterday about a “great opportunity” to present my inventions to Target. You may have received this email as well, in fact you may have even taken the bate.

“Then today is your day! If you are in production with an innovative dry goods product, which hasn’t yet made it to the mass market yet, then Target may want you to present to them!

snacks, healthly, local to Chicago or LA are some areas of focus, big ideas like “method” that they can wrap a story around. Testing in 400 stores for some, others will be localized and online

HUGE push in this category for them, so don’t miss your chance!

It only takes $50 to join the best connection platform, Inventorz Network and post your virtual trade show booth in our pavilion!”

The email was sent by a group called Inventorz Network out of Chicago.

When the organization started years ago it was run by a nice lady named Melinda who focused on women inventors. Melinda did a great job helping woman inventors get resources. That is, until she teamed up with another lady who has literally destroyed the reputation of this organization. In part by associating with some of the bigger crooks in the industry, and by attempting efforts like this “search” which appears to be just a mechanism for getting you to give them $50.00.

You see, there is no doubt Target wants new products. However, what Inventorz Network has done here is convince Target they have access to a great treasure trove of product inventions, and they can hand deliver you, the inventor, to Target’s front door.

Inventorz Network has no clue how the industry actually works. They make wild promises to Target because it’s what Target wants to hear. Then they use the leverage to drive their membership fees.

The problem is, in all the years I’ve been doing this I have NEVER seen an inventor working on a dry goods food product, and you can’t put a “method” on a shelf. In fact, not a single inventor of the tens of thousands I’ve met was working on a food item of any kind. It’s just not an area of inventing that independent inventors migrate towards. (in all fairness, I’m sure there is someone out there – but I’ve never seen them)

The real issue is not that this search has a chance in hell of producing anything worthwhile for Target, it doesn’t. The real issue is the negative impact it has on you the inventor when you spend your money and get your hope all spun up, only to experience yet another let down.

Obviously I feel bad for you, or I wouldn’t be writing this piece to warn you. But I feel equally as bad, and a little pissed off, that Inventorz Network is going to leave a retailer like Target thinking our industry is full of conmen and crazies – because I assure you when it fails, and it will, Inventorz Network is going to throw the inventing industry under the bus instead of admitting that they had no clue, and that all they really wanted was your money.

So here’s the deal – As inventors we’re hounded almost daily by people wanting to sell us things, and one of the easiest things to sell an inventor is frankly “expertise”

That said, if it’s real expertise it’s probably worth buying. Unfortunately most of it isn’t real, and most of it isn’t worth much – however, those making money are hoping that you as a novice inventor simply don’t know any better.

Did you ever wonder how those “experts” came to be experts? Well, here’s how most of them do it.

This is an email I received recently from a group called Inventorz Network. I’ve seen this group, who started out great, slide so far down the mountain over the last few years that I doubt they will ever be a reputable member of our industry again – sad – but that’s another story.

The email is what we call “Trolling”. They’re sending emails to people they find on the internet, people they don’t even know offering to brand them as “experts” to their membership – for just $500.00 a year.

Dear Mr. Reyland

Create Your Expert Listing Today Join the Inventorz Network today and create your Expert profile to connect with inventorz nationally who need your services…. …..After you become an Expert Member of Inventorz Network, you can then put together an article about a subject relevant to the inventor industry and your service/business in roughly 2,000 words.

Please remember the idea is to show how you, the Expert, can provide support for the Inventors. Our online magazine receives a lot of traffic, so this will be nice, long-term advertising for your business while you’re featured in the Expert Pavilion.Thank you for your time.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Elizabeth D

As you can see, they don’t actually care if I’m an expert or not. They aren’t interested in what makes me an expert, in fact, they never even ask. If I give them $500.00 a year, they’re happy to exploit the trust of their members and feed them to me one at a time – where I’m free to say, do, and charge whatever I like.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t all about Inventorz Network. This is about a problem in our industry that you may not know we have – and that unless you know what happens behind the curtain, you stand a very good chance of getting advice from an “expert” who purchased that title from a group claiming to be helping you.